Valentino Rossi won the Australian Grand Prix MotoGP race at Phillips Island today, and became the 2004 World Champion for the fourth time in a row…after switching from Honda to the previously uncompetitive Yamaha this year.

In an incredible display that demonstrates that the human factor matters most of all, he led from the second lap on.

And as I’ve noted before, he’s revitalized the sport with his simple enjoyment of it. Something we all need to bring to work with us…a little more joy in what we do.

Speaking of Dowdification, it sure looks like Robert Tagorda catches Andrew Sullivan in a couple of them.

Andrew, as a part of his rationale why hawks like us can support Kerry (as he does), suggests that neocons overall are supportive of the idea of a Democratic Reformation through Kerry’s election.

The problem is that’s not what the full quotes say.

I feel Sully’s pain, I really do. I feel like a Bulgarian gymnast as I try and convince myself either that four more years of a Bush presidency won’t lead to permanent political warfare or that four years of Kerry won’t lead to an increase in real warfare. But people like us have to suck it up and look at the problem, no matter how much it makes us want to claw our eyes out.

Go check out Daniel Drezner’s post explaining that he (along with me) is one of the last holdouts in this electoral cycle.

It’s a great post – I don’t agree with him (my p-value is nowhere near his), but it’s a good read. He has a great email from a former Clinton diplomat that’s worth noting. And the comments are great, too.

As to how I feel? Well this morning I wrote to a friend:

I don’t like any of Bush’s domestic policies that I can name (although I’m also not thrilled about Kerry’s). I do support the war in Iraq, and think that while Bush’s team has screwed some stuff up, none of it unrecoverable and he’s fundamentally on the right path. I don’t know what Kerry’s path really is, and if I knew, it’d make up my mind for me.

I trust Bush to do what he says, but don’t trust Kerry much in the same way. But I don’t want Bush to pick 5 Supreme Court justices…

I can do this kind of ping-pong all day. Then I remind myself that Kerry will win CA, it’s a winner-take-all electoral state, and I don’t need to trouble myself too much.

Then I talked to Tim Oren who told me I had a duty to make up my mind.

Sigh. Can’t we get a do-over on this and run McCain against Dean? Bueller? Anybody?

Just got an email back from a staffer at ABC’s Noted, stating they had issued a correction, and they did:

Early on Friday Noted Now inadvertently posted an incomplete quotation from California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking about President Bush and Sen. Kerry’s debate performances.

FULL CORRECT QUOTE FROM SCHWARZENEGGER ON KGO RADIO: “Both of them did not answer some of the questions, which I think is upsetting to me. I think it is much better to be straightforward with the people. I mean if you get a question about Iran and about nuclear power, and you don’t even answer that question, I think it’s a mistake, you know like Kerry did. Bush did the same thing in some instances, not really get into it and answer it.”

Good for them…that’s almost – bloglike.

A few questions and thoughts for eveyone as the election comes closer:

bq. “If one set out to design systems to prevent checks and balances, it would be hard to outdo current paperless e-voting machines. Electronic voting in its current form is equivalent to handing over the counting of votes to private groups who count the ballots behind closed doors — and then destroy them before anyone else can do a recount.”
   — David Dill, Verified Voting

bq. “What about all those who are being encouraged to vote an absentee/mail ballot? They place their faith in the U.S. Postal Service, which handles their mail ballot by computerized processes. If they are delivered to the Elections Department, for decades, those ballots have been tabulated through computers (not networked). Yet, that voter has no idea whether his/her ballot has been counted in every contest because of the anonymity of the voter and secrecy of the ballot.”
   — Mischelle Townsend, Riverside County registrar of voters

bq. “I am not against technology. I drive a car, get on airplanes and ride elevators. However, if the code in any of these was as bad as Diebold’s software, I wouldn’t.”
   — Avi Rubin, computer science professor

bq. “One of my company’s customers makes electronic slot machines, and hires us as one part of the independent verification process. The manufacturer, the casinos, and the state regulators all take the verification of software for these machines very seriously — much more seriously than most election officials seem to take the verification of DRE software.”
   — Jim Horning, reader

bq. “The question begs asking: how did all of these experts find such serious flaws that passed the scrutiny of the testers who approved the systems? As it turns out, it’s not entirely the fault of the testers. The standards by which they are asked to rate and judge voting systems are highly flawed themselves and are severely outdated.”
   — Kim Zetter, Wired News

bq. “At this point in time in the election cycle, there is no constructive value in perpetuating the debate. Election officials are conducting the election with the tools that they have. To continue discrediting these tools serves only to actively undermine the legitimacy of the election before a vote has been counted. To deride and malign election officials who are working tirelessly with the tools they have to conduct a transparent, fair and accurate election to the best of their ability in November serves no positive goal. It is a fair question to ask the motive of those who do either.”
   — Scott Konopasek, San Bernardino County registrar of voters

From Good Morning Silicon Valley, via Politech.

Update: ABC has issued a correction.

So this is what Mark Helperin means when he says:

bq. “…as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right.”

Over on ABC’s ‘Noted Now‘ website, a quote from my own Governator:

SCHWARZENEGGER SAYS BOTH BUSH AND KERRY EVASIVE IN DEBATES:
“Both of them did not answer some of the questions, which I think is upsetting to me. I think it is much better to be straightforward with the people…. You know like Kerry did. Bush did the same thing in some instances, not really get into it and answer it.”

So I click along to the linked Reuters story and get this (the deleted words are in bold):

“Both of them did not answer some of the questions, which I think is upsetting to me,” Schwarzenegger told KGO radio in San Francisco. “I think it is much better to be straightforward with the people.”

“I mean if you get a question about Iran and about the nuclear power and what you are going to do in the future with this nuclear power, and you don’t even answer that question, I think it’s a mistake, You know like Kerry did,” he continued. “Bush did the same thing in some instances, not really get into it and answer it.”

Yuppers, skill and strength, alright.

I listened to the debate, and scanned the blogs and news sites.

And decided I wanted to write about something else instead, before my head implodes.

So let me tell you about my weekend instead. I went to Monterey to be a corporate spouse to TG, who had to be at a conference. My role involves a small amount of bureaucracy-chasing (dealing with the hotel, and making sure that the right people have access to the suite), hanging around and chatting with people (yeah, that’s hard for me to do), working on my laptop (yes, Powerpoint is the tool of Satan Himself). Oh, and I get to ride my motorcycle…I rode up while TG had to drive The Mighty Odyssey with all her swag in it.I’ve been too busy to ride much lately, and when I have ridden, it’s been in groups which involves about as much socializing and group-massaging as just plain riding; this was going to a solo trip up and back, with a short day ride with a couple of friends in between. All told, maybe 1,000 miles of riding over 4 days.

I was in a hurry on the way up; we had a giant lunch event we had to make; TG rolled up Interstate 5 that cuts directly north through the Central Valley, and I meandered just a little bit on less-patrolled back roads (which meant I could keep my speed up, thanks to Valentine One and the H.A.R.D. heads-up radar display for motorcyclists).

Riding long distances has a great effect on me; my mind quiets down. I can force myself to concentrate for half an hour or so – in essence force all the random thoughts that we have wandering around to sit down and be quiet for a bit – but after that it becomes difficult and the chatter comes back. But after two or three hours, it calms down and reduces to one or two clear lines of thought. And then those go away and I’m quietly in the landscape, just feeling the wind and the physics of my movement.

And there is something about California’s open areas that I find irresistible. The ranch country, with rolling golden hills and oak trees gives way to high desert scrub and then to the coastal mountains themselves. The economy changes from ranchland to oil fields to farms and then to scrub and open range. I pass the For Sale signs, and always look – an instant too late – for a flyer to tell me what I could get here for how much.

I’m trying to make miles here, so my stops are short and efficient. Gas, check the bike (tires, chain, oil), use the rest room, get something to drink and some Fig Newtons or some raw nuts and back out on the road. I’m wearing my bright yellow Aerostich armored coveralls, so people always look for a moment. Firefighter? their faces say, and then no, and sometimes they ask me and I’ll explain what the suit’s for.

People are all the same, but there’s still something different that you see in the faces of people in Taft or Avenal from what I see here in Los Angeles or in the urbane coast. It’s in the open friendly faces of the older women ahead of me in line at the gas station, and in the hard, pretty face of the teenage girl outside smoking until we showed up and she had to come in and wait on us. The world isn’t handing them opportunities in the same way I see it here in the city. But they get things for it in return; the older woman asked after the girl’s brother and wanted to know if he was better yet.

But on a basic level, riding alone is a selfish act. I’m riding through their lives and the landscape, watching and appreciating it one moment, and putting my head down and seeing how far I can get the speedometer needle to go the next or feeling the weight of the motorcycle balanced on my throttle hand as I accelerate through a corner, the toe of my boot sliding along the pavement.

And then at the end of it, there’s always a driveway leading me back into the world I live in; back to the hotel where my wife waits, or better, back to our home and children. My legs are sorest, then my shoulders and wrists. But my heart feels very good.

OK, the Guardian, in the UK, has a story up that distributes voter names and addresses for a county in Ohio. The explicit intent is:

…to enable people from Basildon to Botswana to campaign in the presidential race. And with a little help from the folks in Clark County, Ohio, you might help decide who takes up residence in the White House next month.

The system then allows you to register with an email address, and emails you an undeclared voter’s name and physical address. I did it, and got a voter in Springfield, Ohio.

Something in this fails the ‘smell test’ for me. On the other hand, it’s not like we haven’t spent a few CIA dollars to effect elections elsewhere ourselves.So, in that spirit of nose-holding neutrality, I’ll make it possible for our 5 – 6,000 readers per day to participate by getting their own voter and writing to them themselves.

There are probably enough undeclared voters that simply draining the pool won’t have an impact (i.e. simply having the system send you addresses so they won’t be available to anyone else). So go ahead and write your voter a letter.

I’m getting closer to making up my mind, and when I do – I will. (Note that I still think Bush will easily win, so my decision – or lack of it – isn’t exactly of earthshaking portent)

From the Washington Post, some awfully good news.

Local insurgents in the city of Fallujah are turning against the foreign fighters who have been their allies in the rebellion that has held the U.S. military at bay in parts of Iraq’s Sunni Muslim heartland, according to Fallujah residents, insurgent leaders and Iraqi and U.S. officials.

This is attributable, largely to two things – the military ineffectiveness of the outside terrorists, and in contrast, the military effectiveness of the Coalition and Iraqi forces.

Residents say foreign fighters recently have taken to gathering in Fallujah’s grimy commercial district after being denied shelter in residential neighborhoods because their presence so often attracts U.S. warplanes. The airstrikes and the turmoil in the streets have spurred perhaps half of the city’s 300,000 residents to flee, residents and officials said.

Local residents are done with them.

“If the Arabs will not leave willingly, we will make them leave by force,” said Jamal Adnan, a taxi driver who left his house in Fallujah’s Shurta neighborhood a month ago after the house next door was bombed by U.S. aircraft targeting foreign insurgents.

They are taking matters into their own hands:

One of the foreign guerrillas killed by local fighters was Abu Abdallah Suri, a Syrian and a prominent member of Zarqawi’s group. Suri’s body was discovered Sunday. He was shot in the head and chest while being chased by a carload of tribesmen, according to a security guard who said he witnessed the killing.

and

Residents say foreign fighters recently have taken to gathering in Fallujah’s grimy commercial district after being denied shelter in residential neighborhoods because their presence so often attracts U.S. warplanes. The airstrikes and the turmoil in the streets have spurred perhaps half of the city’s 300,000 residents to flee, residents and officials said.

Now they are negotiating. One argument hawks (like me) have made is that military success will lead to diplomatic success – not the other way around. It appears that – like Libya – we may be seeing some signs that support that theory.

Persistence is valuable, and now, more than ever.

Here’s a thought-problem for folks to chew on a bit.

I watched Tim Russert on the hotel-room TV late Saturday night, interviewing James Fallows and another magazine editor who supported the war (sorry, was reading Tommy Franks’ book, and only paying half attention). Fallows, who I respect greatly, kept coming back to one point: “The inspections were finally working just before the war. We didn’t have to invade, we could have kept Saddam contained.”

I keep hearing this from people, think this is a truly dumb statement, and since I think James Fallows is very smart want to toss the issue out here for discussion.Here are my points, and some questions:

* In the end-game just before the war, Saddam was suddenly much more cooperative with the inspectors. But we had about 150 – 200,000 troops on his border. How long could we have kept them there, and what would the impact on the Arab world have been had we done so?

* Containment and the various embargoes we had erected around Iraq were leaking, and leaking progressively more and more. At what point would they have become so leaky as to be ineffective?

* Saddam was using the skimmed funds from Oil-For-Food to weaken the Western coalition, by bribing executives, journalists, and politicians. At what point would the political environment have become such that sanctions would have collapsed?

* The people of Iraq were suffering horribly under sanctions. Even if we take Matt Welch’s math as correct (as I do), we get this result: “Between August, 1991, and March, 1998, there were between 106,000 and 227,000 excess deaths of children under five.” Incomes collapsed, infrastructure decayed, as Saddam built palaces and was screwed out of millions on deals to buy North Korean missiles. Somehow, this places the casualties of the war into some kind of context for me.

And as a bonus question, let’s do some research over the next few days. How many opponents of the war were also opponents of sanctions? There was a well-developed international movement to lift the inhumane sanctions on Iraq. Just to end them, because the human cost was unacceptably high. I haven’t mapped people and organizations who supported this with those who opposed the war, but given some time, I bet a bunch of us could put together a very interesting list.